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Province to spend $15 million on CAR T-cell therapy for cancer patients

Aug 24, 2020 | 4:08 PM

EDMONTON, AB. — The Alberta government announced Monday morning that it will fund a $15 million cancer therapy program, accessible in Calgary and Edmonton.

The treatment is known as CAR T-cell therapy, and is used on patients with leukemia and lymphoma.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro noted at a press conference that this type of therapy is already available in Ontario and Quebec.

“CAR T-cell therapy trials have demonstrated durable remissions and potential cures in about 50 per cent of adults and 80 per cent of children and young adults,” he said. “We want to provide Albertans with the same recovery opportunities, and that’s why we’re establishing a made-in-Alberta program. Our government is pleased to be partnering with the Alberta Cancer Foundation to make this happen.”

The funding is for a clinical trial, with 150 patients anticipated to receive the treatment over the next three years.

It will launch at Calgary’s Tom Baker Cancer Centre this winter, then soon after at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton. In 2023, the treatment will become available at Stollery Children’s Hospital.

The CAR T-cells, a release notes, will be manufactured in the U.S.

“We are grateful to the provincial government for providing additional, significant funding to help bring this program to Albertans,” said Wendy Beauchesne, CEO, Alberta Cancer Foundation. “Alberta is home to such bright minds in the emerging field of immunotherapy and our donors are excited about this game-changing technology that has potential to change the way we treat cancer here and around the world.”

With CAR T-cell therapy, a patient’s T-cells are isolated, genetically modified and expanded to sufficient numbers in a laboratory, a release from Alberta Health explains. T-cells are then returned to the patient, with most patients receiving just one infusion. The cells then multiple to fight the cancer cells.

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